How The Atlantic Fact-Checks Articles

I've been reading The Atlantic on and off for a long time and this year I've read almost all of their excellent pandemic coverage (which they have generously put outside of their paywall). Recently, a friend gifted me a subscription, so I can now read more than a handful of other articles each month. 

Why do I read The Atlantic? One reason is that they hire great writers and their articles are almost always eminently readable. Another reason is their journalistic reputation. They have a well-deserved reputation for accuracy, and their articles are thoroughly fact-checked. 

And I do mean thoroughly. Here's an article that explains how one fact-checker worked on an article about ISIS in 2015. As a technical writer/editor, I'm used to checking that my work, or material that I edit, is accurate, but this is a whole other level of work.

1. Get familiar with the material. I read the piece a few times and educate myself on the topic. Then the author either annotates the piece with sources in footnotes or simply walks me through it. This gives me a sense of how the piece was put together: What or who are the sources? Who might be difficult or sensitive to deal with? What did the author read? Then I ask the most important question: What is the author most worried about? Often it is the understandable fear that a highly sensitive source might not want to cooperate with the checking process. More on that soon.
2. Break down the piece with a red pencil. Every checker has a different system but I’m old-fashioned and still work on paper. I format the piece with wide margins so I can clearly keep track of which source is responsible for which fact. Months later, I need to be able to see the backup for everything. I then underline all the facts that have to be checked in red pencil. Proper names are highlighted. Legal sections are noted in red marker with lots of circled stars to indicate a need for triple-checking. Anything that I have confirmed gets a check mark through it—and, oh, the lovely satisfaction of making a check mark! The checked text disappears into the background, allowing me to focus on the lingering unchecked text. If I’m worried about a detail and want to discuss with the author, I’ll highlight it in yellow, and list possible solutions on a sticky note. After Graeme and I agreed on a change, I circled it with a red pen.

It goes on through seven steps. 

I can't imagine how the author and other fact-checkers and editors at The Atlantic must feel when their magazine is described as "fake news".